(Ecofin Agency) - A 400 million FCFA check was just awarded to about 5,000 producers of certified cocoa from Cameroon’s South-western region as premium for the last production season.

This check was offered by Telcar Cocoa, Cargill’s local dealer, who launched in 2011 a mentoring and training program for Cameroon’s producers of certified cocoa. More than 10, 800 producers have been trained since the program began. Out of these, more than 5, 000 were certified.

According to Cameroon’s Minister for Trade, Luc Magloire Mbarga Atangana, who presided the awarding ceremony held in Kumba on 23 September 2015, Telcar Cocoa’s initiative, which was sponsored by the international firm Cargill, led to a decrease in the proportion of inappropriately roasted cocoa beans from 80 15%, especially in the Southwest, Cameroon’s production basin where harvest is generally done during the raining season thus explaining the oven-drying of harvested beans.

Let us recall that 10, 000 tons of certified cocoa were produced during Cameroon’s 2014-2015 cocoa season against 5, 400 tons for the previous season. Moreover, Telcar, Cameroon’s certified cocoa market leader, alongside Sis Cacaos, and AMS, Barry Callebault’s and Theobroma’s respective subsidiaries, invested themselves in the production of certified cocoa during the 2014-2015 season.